The Firethorn Crown by Lea Doué Page B

her some powders in our room.”
    Mother looked like she could use some powders, too. “Goodnight, then. I expect you to be on your best behavior tomorrow.” She held out the bowl of peppermints. “And stay away from the maze, until further notice.”
    The girls accepted the offering, exiting in a chorus of, “Yes, Mother,” and “Goodnight, Mother.” Lily took a peppermint, wishing she could erase Mother’s sadness and take back her unkind words from earlier.
    Eben waited in the hall, a dozen questions in his eyes. She didn’t strictly need an escort with the girls present, but he fell into step with her and Gwen as they set a brisk pace to the safety of their tower.
    “What happened back there?”
    She tried and failed to keep her eyes straight ahead. Her shoulders drooped. How could she do this? She didn’t want to hurt him, and he was the last person she wanted to push away.
    “Are you all right?”
    She nodded and put her hand to her head, hoping he would understand that she had a headache.
    His brows drew down, and his jaw tensed.
    She took a deep breath and let it out, avoiding his gaze. Slowing, she let the girls catch up with her. They enveloped her in their midst and swept her down the hall.
    Eben’s step faltered. He glanced at her over Wren’s small shoulders, turned, and walked away. His back was straight, his stride purposeful. A royal guard. A confused friend.
    *
    Lily awoke to walls blushed in the morning sun. How dare they look so cheerful. Azure sat on the floor, unlacing her boots after her run at the training field. Lily kicked Gwen awake, payback for last night, and made her way to their ground-floor bathing room.
    She counted the stairs on the climb back. Twenty-five to the sitting room. Twenty-three to the bedroom. Far fewer than in the tunnel. She crossed into the dressing room, the other half of the top floor. Three wardrobes along the dividing wall, three dressing tables against curved stone, three benches scattered across the floor. Even three windows.
    The middle offered the best view of the gardens in the distance and the green lawn down below. So far down. Melantha had dropped a bucket of water on Eben once from the window, but he’d dodged it easily. Prince Tharius’s realm was buried even farther down under the ground.
    “Breakfast.” Junia brought in a tray laden with pastries and fruit, followed by Coral carrying tea. The other girls trickled into the room.
    “Food in the dressing room?” Hazel shook out her gown from yesterday. The maids hadn’t needed to tidy it up.
    “We don’t want to keep Mother waiting.” Azure bit into a flaky, cherry pastry, making a show of scattering crumbs generously on her dressing gown.
    Mara dusted her off. “Don’t be a slob.”
    Azure grinned, cherry staining her teeth, and skipped around the room.
    Lily sat on one of the padded benches and motioned Mara over to do her hair. Ivy sat next to her and took her hand.
    “Something simple, I think.” Mara grabbed a brush and worked at the tangles.
    Elaborate styles never stayed put in her fine hair, especially when she ran around in mazes and danced in underground kingdoms with intriguing sorcerer-princes.
    The other girls crowded around two of the three dressing tables positioned between the windows, accustomed to making do with their limited furniture. Except for Azure, who continued to skip, and Melantha, who lay across Lily’s feet studying her map of the Weaver’s Maze. Lily found their nearness comforting, and she suspected the other girls felt the same way.
    Gwen cleared her throat, interrupting the girls’ quiet chatter. “We need to discuss . . . things.”
    “How?” Wren asked. “We’re not supposed to talk about . . . things.”
    “We can figure out what to do with Lily.”
    Hazel finished a complicated twist in her own hair and turned around. “What to do with her?”
    “She needs to get out of the castle.”
    “No, she needs to stay in our rooms,” Hazel